MINERVA BC NEWMAN
CEBU CITY—The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Labor and Employment in the Visayas regions 6, 7 and 8 have stepped up their livelihood and entrepreneurship development assistance through its various seeding programs to assist individuals and families affected by fire and other calamities like the COVID pandemic.
In a virtual talk show of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Visayas (OPAV) hosted by Asec. Jonjie Gonzales, DTI regions 6 and 7 bared that the agency launched its “Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay”, a livelihood seeding program that enabled small community business owners to receive Negosyo Kits worth P10,000 each /beneficiaries.
According to Gonzales that during the launch of the livelihood seeding program in the region 6, there were 100 indigenous people (IP) that attended it and of this number only 25 are engaged in small business and eight of them were chosen as beneficiaries of the Negosyo Kits for their business development capital.
Gonzales said that for region 7, the DTI here has already distributed 60 livelihood kits to the beneficiaries of the livelihood seeding program and for August this year 175 Negosyo kits are scheduled for distribution in Central Visayas.
The DTI-Cebu Provincial Office has turned over Negosyo Kits worth P10,000 each to 59 fire-affected micro entrepreneurs and their families from the three barangays in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Gonzales added, and all 59 beneficiaries also received food packs and facemasks from the Office of Sen. Bong Go.
All DTI-Negosyo Kits beneficiaries through the Kabuhayan sa Pagbangon at Ginhawa Program received these kits in coupon form that allowed them to avail of various merchandise items to restore and improve their businesses.
Meanwhile, the DOLE-6 has released its counterpart livelihood assistance to the families of the nine sugarcane farm workers who were killed at Hacienda Nene in Bulanon, Sagay City on October 20, 2018. Their wives, siblings, and children were given P137,000 worth of raw materials and goods to rebuild their lives.
Gonzales revealed that DOLE-8 also turned over the mini-grocery store projects in Barangay 1 Commonwealth Rosario, Northern Samar amounting to P500,000 to benefit 50 members of the Kilusang Pagbabago Municipal Association (KPMA) whose families were victims of the Inopacan atrocities. They received P3.49 million in livelihood grants
Gonzales bared other COVID updates in Central Visayas including the opening of the Vicente Sotto Medical Memorial Center (VSMMC) dialysis center for non-COVID patients at the SM Seaside Mall and the procurement project of the request of Cebu City and Provincial governments for the DOH HFEP Hemodialysis package.
SM Seaside City Cebu will provide a 307 square meter space free of rent and common area maintenance cost with the city and provincial governments to maintain accountability of the 10 dialysis units while VSMMC pays for the utilities.
